Psalms 11:6 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, &c. The wicked may think themselves very secure, because they are so politic, crafty, and strong; but how can they defend themselves against God, who hath innumerable ways to destroy them, when they least think of it; and can as unexpectedly overthrow all their power as, when the heavens are most serene, a sudden storm of thunder and lightning and tempestuous wind arises and spreads destruction far and near? Dr. Waterland reads the verse thus: Upon the wicked he shall rain snares: fire and brimstone, and a tempestuous wind shall be the portion of their cup. The psalmist alludes to the fire and brimstone which fell upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. By snares are meant grievous plagues or calamities, which are called snares, because wicked men are often surprised with them when they least expect it, and because they cannot escape them, or extricate themselves from them; but are held fast and destroyed by them. And God is said to rain them, to denote his sending them plentifully, swiftly, and suddenly, as rain commonly falls from heaven. And a horrible tempest Dreadful judgments, so called in allusion to the destruction of the forementioned cities by these means. But he seems to intend this, not so much of present calamities, as of eternal punishments, to commence at the judgment of the last day. “Then the children of faithful Abraham shall behold a prospect, like that which once presented itself to the eyes of their father; when, rising early in the morning, and looking toward Sodom and Gomorrah, he beheld, and lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace! Genesis 19:28. Such must be the portion of their cup who have dashed from them the cup of salvation. He, therefore, who enjoys the prosperity of the wicked here, must take with it their torment hereafter; as he who is ambitious of wearing the crown of righteousness in heaven must be content to endure tribulation upon earth.” Horne. The reader will observe, that this expression, the portion of their cup, is a proverbial phrase in Scripture: God's gifts and dispensations, whether pleasing or painful, consolatory or afflictive, especially the latter, being ordinarily expressed by a cup, poured out and given men to drink.